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Re:The Global Dollar Short Squeeze by mardifoufs on Friday April 10, 2020 @03:15AM (#22830723)
That's because dictators who are well on their way to end up in a ditch usually start embracing "anti-imperialist" rhetoric to paint their opposition as being western traitors and legitimize their struggle for power. They dont just wake up and decide to ditch the dollar, it's just a convenient talking point that really seems to attract a huge portion of western sympathy. It switches the narrative from a revolution caused by brutal oppression to a "revolution" caused by US economic interest trying to topple a resistance leader or whatever.

I'm not saying the US doesn't usually have a lot to do with their demise, but simply that their fall isn't caused by moving from the petrodollars. Because it literally does not make any economic difference for the US , at all.

Re:The Global Dollar Short Squeeze by TheOtherHobbes on Friday April 10, 2020 @04:21AM (#22831055)
The difference between "This is the only currency that matters" and "You can do these transactions in any currency and it doesn't matter" is critical politically.

Currencies trade confidence, not fundamentals, and if confidence in a currency disappears to the point where it stops being the default choice for transactions, the effects are almost literally incalculable.

Re:The Global Dollar Short Squeeze by Retric on Friday April 10, 2020 @08:56AM (#22832543)
Short term trades can go up or down within a range bound by fundamentals. The further things get from their ‘correct’ value the more obvious the correlation becomes.

Aka, when people change their vacation plans etc based on currency fluctuations that’s a massive effect in aggregate.